Thursday, September 22, 2011

Saved by the split force org!

o/

So, some ways back I shelved my Aurora chapter army and started debating whether or not to send them the way of ebay (like so many others before them). Problem was that I really like my painted Aurora minis, just not the army itself. So I started to ask myself why?

Well, I had intended to just build a Scout company army. Nice theme, though not very competitive, but a fun & different SM list than what is always down @ the game shop. However with a low point total I would just add in allied Witch Hunters, tac. squads, etc.. Then the Tyranids arrived in force and Tac Squads became Sternguard, a Librarian showed up, and an arms race began with the Aurora generally staying on the losing end as the fun & themed list was unceremoniously discarded in an attempt to become a competitive list that just happened to have a lot of scouts in it.

Scouts? Competitive?

...brief pause for laughter...

So after much thought & consideration I just said 'fuck it, I want my themed 10th Co. army'. Plus I don't have to paint 100 scouts, I mean it doesn't have to be the WHOLE 10th company...

(1) The 10th company or any company for that matter is rarely @ full strength.

(2) Easily a third or so are on individual squad level deployments/training exercises.

(3) Easily another third are just a bunch of snot nosed brats who are doing push ups, not running fast enough while being yelled/shot at (for combat simulation of course), getting continually grilled on imperial indoctrination/weeded out for flaws/screaming as they're implanted with organs (that their bodies may or may not accept) via somewhat sadistic chirurgens who don't believe in any form of anesthetics, and are in general just not fit for combat...yet.

That leaves me with roughly 30 or so scouts to play with. Toss in a Company commander & his small support staff and that'll fit into roughly 1000 points I figure.

...another (not so) brief pause for...

Nobody plays @ only 1000 points! (or) Only new players that don't own enough models play at 1k! (or) I can't take anything that's good! (or) I can't take a Deathstar, and you can't win a game with out one! (or) don't you have anything else with you? (or) I have some extra models if you need to borrow/proxy some stuff...(or [and one of my personal favorites]) Its impossible to field an effective Space Wolf army at anything less than 1500 points! (that's bad news for anyone starting with Wolves I guess, and doesn't take into account the 1k Logan-wings either, regardless don't argue as he will not be swayed).

So after all of that pissing & moaning which is something I often hear when suggesting any game below 1850 points (and damn those evil GW people for making us buy more mod--umm, wait...). I gotta ask, is 4ok really a game about strategy & tactics? Or is 40k about Deathstars? (which ironically always gets blown up in the Star Wars Movies...) I mean, if you can not only take one, but rather all of your army's bells & whistles, then where's the challenge?

Its the Internet! Its the net lists! Its...the....way umm, the way that...everyone...umm...plays these days...yeah.

...until there's an odd man out @ the FLGS. A guy shows up late while other people are deploying, or two friends want to come to my house to play, but no one wants to sit there & just watch, or there are too many people @ the shop for the tables available. So what d'ya do? Most often there it ends up with a team game. Either 2 v. 2, or 2 v. 1, or a 3 player carnage scenario (which still is best @ a 1250pts or less often rendering that option moot to the opinions mentioned above).

In 2 v. 2's you often end up with an apocalypse game that's shoe horned into a normal 40k game and isn't too much fun in my opinion. I just avoid those. Or you can whip out the sharpies & start gutting an army like a fish to bring it down to 1k to make things more manageable. However in a 2 v 1, you can swamp the '1' with 6 heavies and the like.

To solve this overloading of slots in the force org., somebody somewhere came up with the 'split force org.' set up in which two people each build an army as follows:

1-HQup to 1-Elite1-3 troopsup to 1-heavyup to 1-Fast attackand one optional elite/heavy/fast attack may be used if the other player isn't which makes for a fairly balance force org. Not sure if its universal or not, but locally we allow for units that don't take force org slots to be used as well (i.e.: Command squads, advisers, SW getting 2 HQs in the slot of 1, etc.).

Now, in a 2 v. 1. game that isn't always a balanced game, as the '1' can take all of the bells & whistles, whereas the '2' have armies that are built out of strict limitations. Unless...one army is built as a balanced force (why hello Aurora Scouts...), and the other is..well...just cheese for lack of a better term. Say taking (5) Grey hunters with a power weapon & flamer covers the (1) required troop choice, and probably rolls in @ around 175ish points. That would leave them 825ish points for the HQ & accompanying Deathstar unit. Yeah, for an army list that's pretty risky putting all of your eggs in that one basket, However when that is paired with an army that was specifically built for the split force org., its really not so bad.

...well in theory I guess...

So coming in full rambling circle now, I've decided to build the Aurora 10th co. as 1k split force org. army. So I can have my fluffy theme, and if I get paired up with some cheese-ball partner that's fine (for me anyways) as it doesn't compromise my principles and it has the added benefit of being easily portable and is more convenient than having to rewrite and/or gut an existing list to accommodate the odd man out @ the shop.

About Me

I got into 40k when I was 19, and my state of personal finances has been all but destroyed ever since. These days I play primarily X-Wing and Bolt Action, but still dabble in 40k, WHFB, CBT, as well as various other odds and ends. I am also weening myself off of a long term addiction to the EVE Online MMO. Basically I'm just your standard issue gaming geek.

I am in no way making any money from this page (though by my description & various posts, you can see that GW is making a hellova lot off of me), and it should be said that I do NOT intend to add banner ads. (I find them intrusive & distracting). This page is purely to show my love of the hobby, which has consumed a fair portion of my life. Thank you for taking the time to read & consider these statements. Now please scroll up & read the fun stuff and not my amateur-ish attempts at 'legaleze'.